Avenches () is a Swiss municipality in the canton of Vaud, located in the district of Broye-Vully.
History
thumb|left|Roman amphitheater in Avenches.
thumb|left|Roman theatre in Avenches.
The roots of Avenches go back to the Celts. A tribe of Helvetians had built a settlement on the hills of Bois de Châtel, south of the later Roman settlement. Nearby the Helvetii seem to have had their capital on Mont Vully as shown in recent archaeological excavation. The canal-La Broye-which joins Lac Morat to Lac Neuchâtel is thought to be Roman in origin.
The establishment of the Roman settlement of Aventicum, which became the capital of the province, took place around 15-13 B.C. The name comes from the Helvetian spring goddess Aventia. After patronage by the emperor Vespasian, Aventicum soon developed into a blooming commercial center with over 20,000 inhabitants. The town was granted colonia status-a retirement location for legionaries- although the built up area of the town occupied only a fraction of the walled area -the walls are some 5.6 kilometers in length. The walls were clearly a statement of status rather than being a practical defensive system. Excavations have revealed the detail of the theatre and major temple complex dedicated to the "genius" of Helvetia-Roman Switzerland. One column of the temple stands as the "cigognier"- formerly a nesting site for storks. Other parts of the city still visible are the amphitheatre which includes a later tower now housing the Professor Hans Bogli museum, the baths, the walls, two of the entrances gates, a smaller temple and part of a place building. Excavated but reburied is much of the Roman city. This part of Switzerland was invaded by the Alamanni tribe in the 280's who settled the German speaking parts of Switzerland giving the area its characteristic dialect of German. Rome never really held the area again and after the fall of Rome in the 5th century, a much smaller settlement was built on the former acropolis of the by now abandoned Roman town. The theatre had a short life as a separate defended area. Throughout this period, the town remained the seat of a bishopric and had at least two churches (Saint-Martin and Saint-Symphorian). When the bishop moved his seat to Lausanne in the sixth century, the decline of the former Roman city was complete.
In 1074, the Bishop of Lausanne, Burkhard von Oltigen founded a new city on the site and named it Adventica, which became Avenche in 1518. He built the tower on the edge of the Roman amphitheatre which now houses the museum. In the 11th century, it was surrounded by a wall, and it received city rights in 1259.
A German name for the town did not appear until the 13th century, and it is neither a translation of the Latin, nor a Germanized form of the French. In 1266 the form Wibilsburg appears, and then Wipelspurg (1302), Wibelspurg (1458), Wiblispurg (1476), Wiflispurg (1548), and Wiflisburg (1577). This is derived from the personal name Wibili.
Avenches is first mentioned in 1518 as Avenche.
Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 1.8% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 4.1% and transportation infrastructure made up 6.0%. while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 6.8%. Out of the forested land, 13.4% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.4% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 51.7% is used for growing crops and 10.6% is pastures. Of the water in the municipality, 0.3% is in lakes and 0.5% is in rivers and streams.
Avenches is located on a hill, isolated in the Broye valley, north-west of Fribourg. The village Donatyre (), south of Avenches, belongs to the municipality of Avenches, partly until 2006, and entirely since the municipality of Donatyre merged with Avenches.
The municipality of Oleyres merged on 1 January 2011 into the municipality of Avenches.
Coat of arms
The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Gules, Moors head proper with a band Argent around, clothed in Azure and Or.
Demographics
thumb|Town hall of Avenches
thumb|Post and Monument to [[Henri Guisan.]]
thumb|Houses along the old city wall
Avenches has a population () of . , 32.9% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1999–2009) the population has changed at a rate of 16.2%. It has changed at a rate of 14% due to migration and at a rate of 3% due to births and deaths.
Most of the population () speaks French (1,866 or 73.3%), with German being second most common (329 or 12.9%) and Portuguese being third (152 or 6.0%). There are 78 people who speak Italian and 1 person who speaks Romansh.
, there were 982 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 1,259 married individuals, 165 widows or widowers and 138 individuals who are divorced.
, there were 1,094 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.3 persons per household.
there were 1,266 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was 3 rooms of which there were 399. There were 76 single room apartments and 254 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 1,022 apartments (80.7% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 173 apartments (13.7%) were seasonally occupied and 71 apartments (5.6%) were empty.
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Heritage sites of national significance
The Roman ruins of Aventicum, Avenches Castle, the Cure at Rue du Jura 2, the Swiss Reformed Church, the Temple à Donatyre and the Tour de l’évêque (Bishops tower) with amphitheater and Roman Museum are listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance. The entire town of Avenches and the Swiss National Stud Farm area are part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.
<gallery>
File:Picswiss VD-48-24.jpg | Aventicum
File:Picswiss VD-48-30.jpg | Avenches Castle
File:Avenches - arènes.jpg | L’évêque Tower with Amphitheatre and Roman Museum
File:Picswiss VD-48-11.jpg | Temple à Donatyre
File:Avenches - cure.jpg| Cure
File:Avenches, church st marie-madeleine - ch.jpg|Reformed Church
File:Haras national suisse 6576.jpg|Riding fields at the Haras National Suisse
File:Haras - Avenches - 2.jpg|Stables at the Haras National Suisse
File:Roman ruins in Avenches 7 15.jpg| Theater
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Politics
In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SP which received 29.08% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP (26.61%), the FDP (18.92%) and the Green Party (9.6%). In the federal election, a total of 597 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 37.9%.
Economy
, Avenches had an unemployment rate of 4.6%. , there were 117 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 27 businesses involved in this sector. 283 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 41 businesses in this sector. 1,200 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 138 businesses in this sector.
, there were 761 workers who commuted into the municipality and 690 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net importer of workers, with about 1.1 workers entering the municipality for every one leaving. Of the working population, 9% used public transportation to get to work, and 63.6% used a private car.
Education
In Avenches about 804 or (31.6%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 220 or (8.6%) have completed additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule). Of the 220 who completed tertiary schooling, 59.5% were Swiss men, 28.6% were Swiss women, 8.2% were non-Swiss men and 3.6% were non-Swiss women. During the school year, the political district provided pre-school care for a total of 155 children of which 83 children (53.5%) received subsidized pre-school care. The canton's primary school program requires students to attend for four years. There were 212 students in the municipal primary school program. The obligatory lower secondary school program lasts for six years and there were 174 students in those schools. There were also 10 students who were home schooled or attended another non-traditional school. Avenches is home to 1 museum, the Musée romain d'Avenches. In 2009 it was visited by 17,280 visitors. In 2009 the Musée romain d'Avenches was visited by 17,280 visitors (the average in previous years was 18,742).
, there were 285 students in Avenches who came from another municipality, while 116 residents attended schools outside the municipality.